A Brain Circuit Program for Understanding the Sensorimotor Basis of Behavior

用于理解行为感觉运动基础的脑回路程序 摘要 该项目团队的长期目标是开发一种全面的动物行为理论，明确地 整合了跨层级运行的神经过程-来自调节 个体肌肉到那些调节行为顺序和决定的肌肉。我们的创新方法是 其指导思想是，不同的大脑区域不是在一个单一的神经解剖层内相连，而是 构成一系列分层嵌套的反馈回路。这项工作被组织成四个研究项目， 每个集中在与以下相关的不同加工阶段：(1)肌肉动作，(2)运动模式，(3)运动 引导；(4)行为序列。这些研究表明我们致力于团队互动 项目不是根据PIS实验室组织的，而是每个项目都构成了一个协作的多 实验室的努力。我们研究团队的集体专业知识覆盖了整个神经系统-从 感觉外周到运动外周，并被选为包括每项实验技术的专家 我们需要(分子遗传学、电生理学、光学成像、生物力学、数量行为学 分析、控制理论和动态网络理论)。我们将利用数学方法--控制 理论，特别是动态网络理论--它们最适合建模反馈和 信息通过大脑的不同处理阶段以及在不同处理阶段之间。四个免费赠送和 综合研究项目将侧重于与行为相关的自然行为，重点是 询问完整的、行为正常的动物中遗传识别的神经元功能的记录方法 -旨在对系统神经科学产生最广泛影响的严格标准。我们的研究 利用一个单一的、实验上容易处理的模型系统(黑腹果蝇)，在这个系统中，我们可以轻松地 研究遗传识别的细胞类别在行为学相关行为中的作用。我们的实验 强调以严格的标准询问完好无损的动物的神经元功能的方法 这是为了对系统神经科学产生最广泛的影响。我们的研究将得到一个 仪器和软件资源核心，将开发和支持新的设备和软件，以便 我们可以继续使用最先进的实验技术和数据分析。总的来说，我们的 研究计划构成了对垂直整合的行为的神经基础的系统性攻击 跨越现象学的层级。我们努力的结果将是一个完全具体化的大脑的新合成 用于生成行为。

A Brain Circuit Program for Understanding the Sensorimotor Basis of Behavior Abstract The Project team's long-term goal is to develop a comprehensive theory of animal behavior that explicitly incorporates neural processes operating across hierarchical levels — from circuits that regulate the action of individual muscles to those that regulate behavioral sequences and decisions. Our innovative approach is guided by the notion that different brain regions are not linked within a single neuroanatomical tier, but rather constitute a series of hierarchically nested feedback loops. The effort is organized into four Research Projects, each focusing on a different processing stage related to: (1) muscle action, (2) motor patterns, (3) motion guidance, and (4) behavioral sequences. Demonstrating our commitment to team interaction, these Research Projects are not organized according to PIs laboratories, but rather each constitutes a collaborative multi- laboratory effort. The collective expertise of our research team spans the entire nervous system - from the sensory periphery to the motor periphery and was chosen to include experts in every experimental technique we require (molecular genetics, electrophysiology, optical imaging, biomechanics, quantitative behavioral analysis, control theory, and dynamic network theory). We will exploit mathematical approaches – control theory and dynamic network theory in particular – that are best suited to model feedback and the flow of information through and among different processing stages in the brain. The four complimentary and integrated Research Projects will focus on ethologically relevant natural behaviors, with an emphasis on recording methods that interrogate the functions of genetically identified neurons in intact, behaving animals – a rigorous standard that is designed to have the broadest impact on systems neuroscience. Our research exploits a single, experimentally tractable model system (Drosophila melanogaster), in which we can easily study the functions of genetically identified cell classes in ethologically relevant behaviors. Our experiments emphasize methods that interrogate the functions of neurons in intact, behaving animals, a rigorous standard that is designed to have the broadest impact on systems neuroscience. Our research will be supported by an Instrumentation and Software Resource Core that will develop and support novel devices and software, so that we can continue to employ state-of-the-art experimental techniques and data analysis. Collectively, our research program constitutes a systematic attack on the neural basis of behavior that integrates vertically across phenomenological tiers. The result of our effort will be a new synthesis of how a fully embodied brain works to generate behavior.